The Fifth Marauder
by Julez220890
Summary: A girl form the world where HARRY POTTER is only a book goes into that world in the time of the Marauders, and befreinds them.
1. Prolouge

Hi! this is my first story, so I hope you enjoy. If not, I'll take any criticism, and use it to improve. God that sounded corny. Julez  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
There was once a girl, who was perfectly normal. Well, some people said that she was too obsessed with the Harry Potter books, but other than that, perfectly normal. She loved to read about her favorite characters, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, and longed to meet them (well, maybe not Wormtail). She wished every time she could that the Harry Potter universe was real, and that she could visit it. One day, she was absentmindedly watching for stars. There weren't many stars that could shine through the New York smog, but the brightest were able. The first (and only) star she could see was the brightest in the sky. "Sirius," she whispered, and her thoughts wandered to the Marauders. She wanted to meet them, to go to Hogwarts and see them, so much that she thought she could smell smoke from a train. She couldn't believe her nose, and when she opened her eyes, she couldn't believe them either. 


	2. The Hogwarts Express

CHAPTER ONE: THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS  
I opened her eyes, and saw the scarlet Hogwarts Express puffing out steam. (My name is Juliet Reilly, in case you want to know. This is basically my story, and welcome to it. And now, back to the show.) I realized then that I was holding onto the handles of a trolley, with a large trunk on it. I was actually boarding the Hogwarts Express! I looked down at myself, and saw that I was wearing Hogwarts robes, and what was clearly a wand was sticking out of my pocket. I turned around and saw my mother waving at me, but I couldn't keep my thoughts on her. Was I going to meet Harry, or the Marauders that I'd always wanted to meet? I finaly waved back, and walked onto the train that I had imagined so many times.  
Maybe, before I go on, I should describe myself. At this time, I was short, with long dark brown hair. I did (and still do) have glasses, which have very thin frames, and are almost always tilted towards the left side of my face. Don't ask me why, maybe my ears are lopsided, but they are. Then I was a little chubby, and I was never stick thin, but I wasn't fat. I suppose that's enough. Back you get, keep reading!  
I decided to go looking around the train, instead of finding a place and sitting there. I kept wondering what year it was, whether it was the time of Harry or James. Then, I collided with a small brown haired someone, very hard. "Ow!" I yelled as he knocked me to the ground and fell on top of me. "Ugh. Sorry," I said to the boy, who getting up was straightening his robes.  
"It's alright," he said, offering me his hand. "Are you a first year too?"  
I nodded, and took it, still too winded to say much. I supposed that I was a first year.  
"I'm Remus. Remus Lupin."  
I gasped. The wind that I was regaining was sent out of me again. This was one of the Marauders, before he became, well, a Marauder! Oh, nuts. I thought, did he hear me? I had often wondered if, as a werewolf, he had really good hearing, but Remus didn't act like he heard my strangled gasp, so I introduced myself, and soon realized I was quite nervous, as I started babbling, and I always speak really quickly when I'm nervous. I was making up loads of things but I somehow knew that somehow, she knew that as soon as I said it, it became true. "...and my dad's a Muggle, he still lives in New York, they're divorced I live with my mom in Ireland, that's where she grew up-"  
Remus stopped me mid-sentence. "This is where I'm sitting. You're welcome to come in."  
"Oh. Sure."  
  
We walked into the compartment, and three pairs of eyes were staring intently at me. "Hi," I whispered, as I knew that the blonde haired boy who had a mouth stuffed with chocolate was Peter Pettigrew, and the black haired boy with glasses and hazel eyes was James Potter, and the boy with long hair and gray eyes was Sirius Black. I knew what would happen to them, and I felt sad for James and Sirius, and revulsion towards Peter.  
"This is Juliet Reilly, from New York. We ran into each other outside, and since then she's been telling me my entire life history," said Remus with a small smile. James stuffed a chocolate frog in his mouth. I felt my face burn.  
Sirius stepped up with a flourish. "Allow me to introduce myself," he said. "I am Sirius Black, and my two uncivilized friends are James and Peter." he pulled a chocolate frog from behind his back. "May I tempt you?"  
"Don't mind if I do," said Remus, and took the frog from Sirius's hand. I laughed, and snatched the frog back, stuffing it into my mouth, savoring my first chocolate frog.  
  
"So what house do you want to be in?" asked James, once all the frogs and other candy were gone.  
"GRIFFINDOR!!" shouted everyone else in the compartment.  
"Did you really need to ask?" said Sirius.  
"Is it true that Dumbledore was in Griffindor?" asked Peter.  
"Yeah," said Remus. "So was practically every famous Auror."  
While the boys spoke about all of their chocolate frog card collections, I let my mind wander to my knowledge about the future of these boys. I then vowed to myself that I would let things happen, until... I won't let anything bad happen to my friends. Sirius will not go to Azkaban. James will not be murdered. I will make sure of that. I will let nothing bad to my new friends.  
  
The train finaly stopped in Hogsmeade station. Hagrid looked as if he had stepped right out of my vast imagination. "Firs' years! Firs' years c'mon! We 'aven't got all day!" he yelled, and the pack of young witches and wizards moved towards the man who towered above all of the others at the station. I tried to say in sight of the boys (Peter's blonde hair stuck out amongst the field of black). He led them to a fleet of small boats. "Five ter a boat!" yelled Hagrid. I climbed in beside Remus, and James squeezed in beside me. Remus and Peter clamored into the back. Before long, James had gripped my arm. I had been lost in thought, so I jumped. "Wha?" I murmured, turning to look at him.  
"Who's she?" he said, staring at a certain redhead.  
"Lily Evans," I said, without thinking. The others stared at me. I let something slip! God, I'm an idiot. I had to make up something quick, "Uhhh... I overheard it... at the platform. Um... yeah. Look, the castle!" I broke off, pointing. Everyone started to stare and point, too. Lily turned to one of her new friends and said something, causing James to see her bright almond-shaped emerald eyes. He sighed. Sirius laughed from beside me.  
"First love, Jamesie?" he said, as Remus and Peter began to laugh too. James was too entranced by Lily to do tell Sirius not to call him 'Jamesie'. I tried it.  
I cleared my throat. "Hm, James Potter is the ugliest boy in Hogwarts." The others sniggered, as James didn't notice, and another boat passed by.  
"No," said Sirius, "he is." I turned to the boat and saw a greasy- haired, sallow skinned, big nosed boy.  
"Oh, no," I muttered, as the boys laughed. I couldn't let any more information seep out. Not then, not there. I could barley contain myself, as I stared at Severus Snape.  
  
We were launched into darkness, as we entered a tunnel, and I lost sight of Snape. We arrived at the underground harbor mentioned in my beloved first book, and clamored out of the boats. I flicked a spider off Peter's shoulder, and wiped my hand on my robes, as I loathe spiders, insects, and beetles. I had an urge to flick Peter in the face, just for fun, but then he glanced at me. "What was that for?" he asked.  
I shrugged. "Spider." He gave a small yelp and began jumping up and down slapping his arms and shoulders. James and Sirius began to jump up and down and hit him too, and after a minuet of looking at this strange sight, Remus and I joined in. People started staring and laughing, including Lily, which, upon seeing her, caused James to trip over his own feet. We mimicked him and launched ourselves towards the ground. Brilliant! I thought to myself, not even a day here, and I'm already causing laughs with the famous Marauders!  
"You five over there!" yelled Hagrid from the front, "Stop messing, we're going in!"  
  
Hagrid lead us up a stone passageway and to the door of the castle, on which he rapped three times. The doors swung open to reveal Professor McGonagall, with a long piece of parchment. She looked us all over, making Peter hunch himself over a little, even though he was easily the smallest one there, even shorter than me, and I was always the smallest in my class. She sighed, clearly have had seen a better-looking group of first years. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. Clearly, she said this every year, as this was the beginning of the speech in my beloved first book. "The start-of- term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall..."  
As I had read this speech so many times before, I began to look about the group of first years. Beside the future Marauders and Snape, there was a girl with a round chubby face who I assumed to be Alice... something, the future mother of Neville Long bottom. There was Lily, who seemed to have acquired a small group of giggling friends, and a group who seemed to be the future Slytherins. McGonagall had obviously opened the door, as everyone was moving into the Hall. "Form a single-file line, please!" Shouted the professor. I was placed between Sirius and Remus. Sirius was muttering about the order: "Why's my last name Black? Why couldn't it have been Zach, or Zitch, or Zebadee? I would have settled for Lupin or Potter, but no I'm Black."  
"Sirius," I whispered to him, "I'm sure there's a name beginning with 'A' before you."  
The Hat cut me off, beginning to sing:  
You first years stand before me,  
shaking in your boots,  
you may have never left your families,  
never far from your roots.  
You're in a new place,  
but never fear,  
all I do is sort, I peak into your head,  
there's nothing I can't hear!  
I might put you into Griffindor,  
(bravery is the key)  
or in Ravenclaw you belong  
if intelligence I see.  
In Slytherin, there sit  
the most cunning of the school,  
but I could put you in Hufflepuff,  
if loyalty rules!  
But don't worry, little ones,  
you'll find your true friends in your spot,  
I hope that you aren't nervous,  
'cause in your head, I'm going to drop!  
  
Everyone began to clap, and I felt Sirius relax. "Maybe the hat could see what we're thinking now," whispered Remus in my ear, "as its song told us not to be nervous!" I shrugged, and turned my attention to Professor McGonagall.  
"When I call you're name, please approach the front and place the Sorting Hat on your head," said McGonagall. She looked down at the list, and read: "Black, Sirius!"  
"ARGGUH!" cried Sirius, making the Hall erupt with laughter. He stomped up to the stool and jammed the hat on top of his long hair.  
The hat squirmed, jumped and wriggled a little, until: "GRIFFINDOR!" it yelled, making a table on one side of the room yell. He stepped off the stool, and bowed, swweping the hat off his head and placing it gently on the seat. He walked off in the direction of the cheering table, as "Bones, Amelia!" was called up.  
James was now next to me, and he was staring off into space. Peter and Remus looked very nervous, and I was too: incredibly nervous. There were a few Hufflepuffs, two Slytherins and a Ravenclaw, and then: "Evans, Lily!" James jumped, and seized Peter, who squeaked in shock. Lily put the hat on her head which called out in a few seconds, "GRIFFINDOR!" James clapped very loudly for her. I turned to Remus, and we rolled our eyes.  
"Jones, Hestia!" walked over to the Griffindor table, as "Lupin, Remus!" was called up. I saw some of the teachers jump, and look closely at Remus. They all know, I thought glumly. They all know and they think he's a monster. The hat seemed to be thinking carefully with Remus, it sent him to Griffindor at last, letting me breathe. "McKinnon, Alice!", Neville's future mother became a Hufflepuff, and "Nott, Theodore!" became a Slytherin.  
Then: "Pettigrew, Peter!". Peter squeeked again, and was pushed out of line by James. The hat took a very long time with him, at last sending him trotting off to sit by Remus at Griffindor's table. "Podmore, Sturgis!" became a Hufflepuff, and then: "Potter, James!" James glanced at me, and breathed deeply. He walked up and jammed the hat on his head. The hat deliberated for a while, before yelling, "GRIFFINDOR!" and sending him off.  
"Reilly, Juliet!" My stomach did a backflip, and I walked slowly up the gap, feeling every pair of eyes on me, examining my all-over-the-place unbrushed straight hair, and tilted glasses. I almost sat on top of the hat, and heard the laughs of the students. I blushed, and put the hat on my head. I'm sorry, Hat, was my first thought to it. I feel so awful.  
I felt the hat chuckle. Don't worry, it thought, it happens all the time. No let's see. Smart... oh what's this? Ah, not from this place, I see! You've been given a chance to visit your favorite books! Well, that takes courage. You have a thirst to break free, and not be perfectly nice, and have already made some friends (images of James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter flashed before my eyes). Well, I've made my decision. Have fun in "GRIFFINDOR!"  
I sighed, and walked over to the Griffindor table, where I sat beside James. I noticed how hungry I was as, "Snape, Severus!" was called up. Sirus leaned in and whispered, "Did she just say Snivellus?" we all chuckled, and I turned as Snape lowered the ragged hat onto his greasy hair. It barely touched his head, when the hat screamed "SLYTHERIN!"  
While "Vance, Emmeline!" walked to the Griffindor table, Professor Dumbledore stood up. "Welcome, to another year at Hogwarts," he said. "I unfortunatly have a few announcements before we eat. Firstly, our former Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Tara has resigned, after a record breaking two years! Professor Linnet Roberts will be relpacing her," a small, dark haired witch rose from her seat and waved. "Our Potions instructor, Professor Marx, was replaced by Professor John King," a tall, blonde wizard rose, and sat back down quickly. "I also have to announce the new heads of houses: of Slytherin: Charms instructor, Professor Vernes, and of Ravenclaw: Herbology instructor, Professor Dextra.  
"Secondly, I would like to announce that a new tree has been planted on the grounds. It is an extremely rare Whomping Willow, and it can defend itself quite well, so I do not suggest going near it. And now, the last announcement. Many of the fourth years and above know of the small deserted house on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. It has been taken over recently by a group of very violent ghosts, so do not enter this house, or you will face expulsion, or lose your life," there was a little bit of chattering at this. "And now, let us eat!" he clapped his hands, and the tables filled with food.  
Sirius and James filled their mouths with so much food, it was disgusting. "That's so gross!" I said to Sirius, who shrugged.  
"Buh izun ulez," he said, spewing chicken bits onto the table. I put down the chicken leg I was biting into on my plate.  
"Waa, cuhohn, uuuonhy hive unse!" said James, and I mimicked him, stuffing food in my own mouth, and found that it was fun. I looked down the table, and saw Lily Evans, looking with distaste right at me. "Ehrans..." I murmured, my mouth still very full, and turned back to see that Remus and Peter had stuffed their faces, too.  
We followed one of the Griffindor Prefects to our common room, while Sirius told us of his family. We stopped in front of the Fat Lady portrait, and the Prefect gave the password ("Canis Major!"), and it swung open. I was extremely tired, but perhaps it was because it was late night in my first world when I wished on that star. I bid goodnight to my new friends, and walked up to the girl's dormitory. 


	3. First Days at Hogwarts

CHAPTER TWO: FIRST DAYS AT HOGWARTS Dedicated to FlamingArrow a.k.a.GinnyWeasly, my first reviewer! Thank you so much! : D!  
  
I woke at seven the next morning, as if an alarm had gone off inside my brain. I got out of bed and stretched, and got dressed, not bothering to have a shower. I packed up my bag, with all my books, quills, wand, and ink bottles. I walked out of the dormitory, and heard the boys coming from their side of the tower. "Juliet!" called Sirius, who was sliding down the banister of the stairs. "What woke you? Don't tell me all the girls heard Peter's screams?"  
"What?" I asked, very confused.  
"Peter," said Remus, intervening, "had a nightmare." Peter looked very shaken.  
"What was it about, Peter?" I asked, thinking that maybe I knew the answer.  
"T-there was a house, and i-it was all smashed and b-b-blown up," muttered Peter, stuttering. "There w-was a-a green snake over the house! And dead people inside. And there w-was this roaring noise... and then I woke up."  
"Well," whispered Remus, "at least it wasn't real."  
  
At breakfast, we received our timetables. Monday morning read:  
Nine o'clock - eleven o'clock:  
Double Potions with Slytherin house  
Professor J. King  
Break  
Eleven thirty - twelve thirty:  
Defense Against the Dark Arts  
Professor L. Roberts  
Lunch  
"Not really bad," said Remus.  
"Defense Against the Dark Arts is a pretty good subject," said James. He and Sirius didn't have globs of food smashed into his mouth, thank goodness.  
"Defense against anything dark is pretty good," muttered Sirius, as he stood up. Bellatrix Black was walking towards us.  
"SIRIUS BLACK!" she yelled, "You have betrayed your family! You are in a house with Mudbloods, blood traitors, and stinking half-breeds!" James, Remus, and I stood up. Peter followed quickly. Bellatrix took no notice. She had acquired a group of Slytherins from nowhere. I could see Narcissa, her sister and Sirius's cousin stand beside her, with a boy who could be none other than Lucius Malfoy. Severus Snape and Theodore Nott, new Slytherins, behind them. "You have disgraced our family by coming to this house," she said. "It's bad enough that my idiot sister is in Ravenclaw, but that's not as bad as stinking Griffindor. I've written to your mother, and she is terribly upset. She always knew you'd be bad!"  
"Shut up, about him!" I said, angry from being insulted, and hearing my friends insulted.  
"You be quiet, you filthy Mudblood!" said Bellatrix, her eyes flashing towards me.  
"Bellatrix, leave them alone," said a dark haired girl walking from the Ravenclaw table with a tall boy. "It was the Hat's decision, not Sirius's."  
"You're no better than him, hanging out with Mudbloods," sneered Bellatrix, clearly trying to get Andromeda mad. The boy looked very angry, though, and began to shout at Bellatrix. The other Slytherins moved in front of Bellatrix, who was clearly their leader, their wands raised. Andromeda stepped to Sirius, trying to prevent him from doing anything stupid.  
"What's this?" said a voice. Professor McGonagall was looking at us all sternly. Everyone started to offer explanations at once. She put up a hand. "Five points will be taken from each of your houses. Each." Sirius opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "One more word, Mr. Black, and ten more points will be docked from Griffindor. Now, behave yourselves!" McGonagall walked away. Bellatrix looked from her sister to her cousin, then to her fellow Slytherins, and they stalked off.  
  
We grabbed our bags, and walked off towards the potions dungeon. Remus stood at the doors, waiting for me, but Lily was calling me over. I let him know he could go on. I walked over to Lily and her group of friends. Lily took no time in getting to her point. "Girls shouldn't be best friends with boys."  
I was quite taken aback. "So?" I asked. "I just sat with them on the train and got to know them. That's it."  
Lily took no notice. "This is Hestia, and this is Emmeline," she said, introducing the other Griffindor girls.  
"That's brilliant, Lily. I need to-"  
"Walk to class with us."  
I shrugged.  
  
The girls continued talking and giggling, as if I wasn't there. At least the boys talk about interesting things, I thought as we walked down the steps to the dungeons. I saw the boys grouped together, and Sirius beckoning for me to come up, and sit in the seat next to him. Lily grabbed my arm as I made towards him. "No," muttered Lily. "Sit with us!"  
"Leave me alone, Evans!" I said, and walked over to Sirius.  
"What was that about?" he whispered, as Professor King walked into the room.  
"She was acting crazy- going on about how 'girls shouldn't be friends with boys' or something."  
  
"Welcome, class," said Professor King cheerfully, "to your first year of potions!" he turned and tapped the blackboard with his wand. "These are the ingredients to a potion to cure boils- very simple, I assure you! Get into pairs, there'll be one trio, and start!"  
I was with Sirius and James, who spent the entire lesson goofing off (well, okay, I did too). Once we finished the potion, we started dipping random things in it, and James seized my glasses and dipped one half of them in. The potion cracked the lens, which a very annoyed Remus quickly repaired. Peter found that he was very bad at potions, and Remus was valiantly trying to keep him two feet away from the cauldron at all times. While Remus was pointing out that we didn't stir the potion correctly, there was a loud "BANG!" from Peter's cauldron. Peter had somehow managed to drop his wand into the mix, causing it to issue a steady stream of sparks from the bottom, and turning the potion a violent shade of green. Professor King walked over to them. "Problems, over here?"  
"Peter dropped his wand in the cauldron, sir," said Remus.  
King tapped the side of the cauldron with his wand, making the potion disappear, and revealing Peter's wand at the bottom. "Class dismissed!" he said, and we all scrambled for the door.  
Snape was walking with his Slytherin posse again. "The only bad thing about that lesson," whispered Sirius, "is the fact that Snivellus is better at potions than us."  
  
We walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and I instantly fell in love with it. I could tell Remus did, too, and I was glad, because I knew about his future as a teacher. "Take your seats, please!" said Professor Roberts, walking into the room. She was a tiny woman, today with her dark hair in a long plait down her back. Her hands were very small, and her robes looked as if they could have fitted any first year in the room. "Good morning class!" she said. Everyone murmured back, but Roberts took no notice. "Today... well, I really don't have much planned today. Er...."  
The class went by very slowly, with Professor Roberts going on about her Auror training, and how she had been 'advised' to take a year off (for experience). James whispered to me, "No, just to get her our of their hair." By the end of class, we had put bets on how long she would last. I put five Galleons on 'not past winter break'. I seriously hoped I was right; if all out lessons were like that one, I would have gone crazy. The only good thing about the class was that she assigned no homework, just like Professor King. "Finaly," said Peter dashing towards the door as the bell rang. "Lunch!" Sirius and James ran after him.  
"Do you think," I asked Remus, once we had exited the room, "that the Defense Against the Dark Arts job is cursed?"  
He looked at me quizzically. "What gives you that idea?"  
Nuts! I yelled to myself, you let yourself slip again! "I heard a fifth year talking about it. And remember how Dumbledore said that two years was a record for Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers."  
"Hm..." we entered the Great Hall, "I suppose it's possible..."  
  
Transfiguration was next. McGonagall was as stern and rigorus as described in the books. She lectured us all for half the lesson on the difficulty of Transiguration, and then tapped a chair with her wand, changing it into a stork and back again. She passed out matches, and instructed us to turn them into needles, which is much harder than it sounds. By the end of class, mine was a needle-shaped match, which could still light at one end. Peter's was still a match, which had a small eyehole at one end. Sirius's was a metal match, Remus's was a little silvery, and very pointy, but James... his needle was a real needle. "Execlent, Mr. Potter! Ten points to Griffindor!" said Professor McGonagall. James beamed.  
Our last class of the day was Charms. Professor Vernes was stern and very grim faced. He was also the Slytherin head of house, and whenever someone spoke out of turn, he took a point of from Griffindor. He was the only one who gave us homework for the night (practice the Levitation Charm and write a paragraph on it's uses). "I didn't like him much," said James, as we walked out of class.  
"That's only because he's head of Slytherin," I said back to him, but I had to tell him. "I didn't like him much either.  
  
The next day passed without event, until the evening. "My mother is ill," announced Remus while we were doing our homework. "I need to go for the night."  
We wished him goodnight as he left the common room with McGonagall. James, Sirius, and Peter didn't pay much attention, but I did. I went over to the nearest window and looked out. Sure enough, the moon was full, and the Whomping Willow was still frozen. I saw it shake itself out, as an earsplitting howl came from the Shrieking Shack. Peter squeaked and pretended that he was very tired and had to go to bed. James and Sirius followed soon after. I stayed up for a minuet, taking a spare bit of parchment and writing down: September 3: Full moon, Remus "visiting ill mother". I tucked my quill, ink, and parchment and sticking it in my bag, and retiring for the night. 


	4. Pranking

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm really super-duper uber-sorry, cuz I left out a disclaimer. "Hem, Hem, I, Julez, do NOT own Harry Potter, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, Lily Evans, and anyone else you can find in the books. I do own Juliet Reilly, Professor Linnet Roberts, Professor Pollux Vernes, and everyone and everything you cannot find in the books. Everybody cool? Let's continue, shall we?  
  
CHAPTER THREE: PRANKING  
  
The next morning, Remus met up with us at breakfast. He seemed fine, except for a little tired. "How's you mother, Remus?" I said, trying desperately to sound normal.  
"Oh...er... fine. I'll probably have to visit her again... next month," he mumbled, reaching for some toast, and accidentally showing a bandage on his hand. "I have... a cat," he mumbled when he realized that I saw it.  
  
Our first lesson was Charms. Professor Vernes collected our paragraphs, and tested us all on the Levitation Charm. He awarded many of the Slytherins, who we were sharing, class with, points for achieving the Charm, while only giving a few points to Griffindor, and giving us another night of practice, while the Slytherins had none. Snape kept grinning evilly at us through out the class, which continued with only taking notes. Afterwards, Snape and the first year Slytherins ganged up on them again. "Not so good anymore, huh, blood traitor?" he mumbled to Sirius, as they passed us in the hall, causing Sirius to stop in his tracks.  
"No, Sirius..." I whispered, "He's not worth detention!"  
  
All of the teachers were giving homework now, except Professor Roberts. Every class, she would begin on one topic, and end on a completely different one. Today, we began talking about Basilisks (a topic I knew a lot about), and ending during a discussion about her small pack of Kneazles at home. Sirius and James were playing hangman, Remus was reading the textbook, I was doodling on some parchment, and Peter was asleep. Good thing we were in the back row, I thought as we left the room.  
  
At lunch, more Slytherins came over to us, following Bellatrix and Narcissa. This time, Sirius would have attacked Bellatrix if Remus, James, and I weren't holding him back. Andromeda came up to her, with the tall boy by her side, and the Slytherins fled, not wanting to lose more points. "Hi," she said, "I'm Andromeda, Sirius's cousin, and this is Ted Tonks," she indicated the tall boy, who smiled. "Sirius, I know that they just want to make you lose your temper, so they can tell your mother you've turned against the family."  
Sirius frowned at her. "I am against our stinking pure-blood obsessed- "  
"I know, Sirius," she said soothingly. "So am I. Bellatrix is leaving at the end of next year. That's how long you have to put up with her. You don't have to deal with them anymore." She smiled and walked back to the Ravenclaw table with Ted.  
"I want to stop dealing with them now!" said Sirius when she was out of earshot.  
"I think I know how we can do that," said James.  
  
That evening, James pulled out his Invisibility Cloak from his trunk. "This will get us into the Slytherin common room," he said, "and these," he pulled out a large box, "will give us revenge." He opened it, revealing cockroaches, all still and in neat rows. Even though they seemed dead, I recoiled. "Realistic Roving Roaches, from Zonko's in Diagon Alley. 'Just tap them with your wand, put them on the ground, and watch 'em go!' They're the best!"  
We left the common room, and covered ourselves with the Invisibility Cloak, Remus and Peter holding the box. Finaly, after a long time of walking, we found a group we were sure were Slytherins (who could miss the white-blonde hair of a Malfoy?), to a patch of bare stone wall, as described in the second book. One of the boys in the Slytherin group said "Mudblood scum!" and the wall opened. The Slytherin common room was stone walled, and with black furniture- tot very homey. Many people were in the room as we followed through the opening in the wall before it closed. James silently pulled a Realistic Roving Roach out of the box, and tapped it with his wand. He placed it on the floor, and it scuttled out from under the cloak. Peter held the box, as we tapped them and put them down.  
Once all of the Roaches were out, the screams began. The girls noticed them first, and then the boys began to shriek too. Most of them were jumping on the furniture, or running upstairs, but then screams came from the dormitory, and we knew the Roaches were there, too. People began to run out of the hole in the wall, and we followed, but when we were just out, someone tripped over Peter's foot, throwing off the Cloak. "Idiot!" muttered James, as everybody noticed us.  
"They're Griffindors!" yelled someone, as James stuffed the Cloak in the box.  
"Let's bring them to Vernes!" yelled another, and before I knew it, I was being dragged along to Professor Vernes's office.  
  
Vernes looked at us sternly over his desk. "Care to tell me how you got those cockroaches into the common room?" he looked at us. We said nothing. "Hm... well, maybe I don't want to know. As punishment, fifty points will be taken from Griffindor, and a week's detention. With me." Sirius opened his mouth, "Mr. Black, say one word, and I will take one hundred points. More. Your detentions start tomorrow. Goodnight."  
  
The week went by quickly, and our fame as pranksters spread throughout the school. I don't remember if it was one of us or someone else who came up with the name but by the end of the week, we were the Marauders. We were hated by Slytherins, a legend in Hufflepuff, the 'shame of the school' in Ravenclaw, and adored in Griffindor, which, of course, was the only house that mattered. The only drawback to being school heroes, were the school villains. The Slytherin attacks grew in number every week, finaly resting with at least two insults per day, as with great fame, came great responsibility. Snape became Snivellus openly, and it became the new 'thing' for Griffindors to tease him about his greasy locks and hooked nose.  
  
October came, as well as the day when Remus again announced that he needed to visit his mother again. As we were all better friends now, we told him to tell his mother to get well from us. Once everyone else had gone to bed, I wrote on my parchment: October 1: full moon, Remus's mother 'ill' again.  
  
The next morning, there was a poster on the Griffindor notice board. We were going to have our flying lesson that morning... with the Slytherins. "Just like in the book," I murmured under my breath as I read the notice all through. The other Marauders caught up with me, with Sirius holding a small carton of something. "Read the notice?" I asked them.  
"Yep," said Sirius. "We are going to uphold our title as resident pranksters."  
"How?"  
"With this!" he said, as if he were doing a commercial. "Sirius's Secret Scratching Solution! Well, okay, it's itching powder, but Sirius's Secret Scratching Solution is a cool name, right?"  
"What are we doing with it?" I asked, even though I was sure that I could have guessed if I tried.  
"Putting it on the Slytherin's brooms, of course!"  
"I'm sorry I asked..."  
Remus met up with us on our way down from the tower, and we told him about our idea. We skipped breakfast and went straight down to the grounds, where the brooms where lying. As we sprinkled the powder on the brooms on the left, we spoke about our experience on brooms.  
"Well, I love to fly," said James, "and I love Quiddich."  
"Me too," said Sirius. "I'm not the best flier, but I love the-"  
"CHUDLEY CANNONS!" James joined in.  
"They've gone downhill though-"  
"-since Xiomara Hooch left-"  
"-she was the best Chaser ever!"  
"Thank you, boys," said a voice to our left. A tall woman with short brown hair that was streaked with gray, and bright, piercing, yellow eyes was standing there, with a whistle around her neck.  
"Xiomara Hooch..." whispered James and Sirius, entranced by the Quiddich star standing in front of them.  
"I'm the Quiddich coach here now," she said. "Griffindors on the right!"  
We all shuffled over, Remus and Peter behind me, as I was left holding the empty Scratching Solution container. I crumpled it, and stuffed it in my pocket. The other Griffindors came, and stood by broomsticks on the right side of Madam Hooch. The Slytherins came five minutes later, with Snape at the head of the pack. They settled around their brooms, and we all looked up expectantly at Madam Hooch. "Welcome to your flying lesson! I am your instructor and new Quiddich coach, as well. If you are interested in Quiddich, I am sorry to say you cannot join the team until you enter your second year, but this year's season is starting shortly after Halloween.  
"The first thing to do is place your right hand over your broom, and say, sharply and firmly, up!"  
"UP!" shouted everyone at once. The broom flew into my hand, as did James's, and Sirius's. Peters didn't move at all, and Remus's rose about halfway, and just hung there. Many of the Slytherin's brooms flew up, and soon, some of them were scratching their hands.  
"Now," continued Madame Hooch, "mount your brooms, kick off, hang in the air for a moment, and come down, by leaning forward. Then await my instructions. Now, go!" she blew her whistle, and we kicked off. It was a little scary, but going up, just those few feet, was wonderful. True to her instructions, we hung in the air, and then, at another blow of the whistle, we leaned forward, and came down. We got off the brooms, and stood while Madam Hooch went over basic rules of broom safety. Meanwhile, many of the Slytherins were scratching their hands, and wriggling around. The powder had been strong enough to seep through their clothes, and make them itchy... well, you know where. Soon, it became a little too much for them, and they began to rub their backsides. The other Griffindors began to smile, and giggle, and then, finaly laugh out loud. Madam Hooch finaly noticed what was going on at the Slytherin side of the brooms. "What's this?" she asked. "What's wrong with you?"  
Some Slytherins shrugged, others whimpered, and one ran towards the school. The others saw him and followed, but Snivellus waited a second before he followed: "You stinking, idiot, Griffindor Mudbloods!" he yelled, and then took off, while Madam Hooch brought up the rear.  
"The Slytherin Slimeballs deserved it!" yelled James, once Madam Hooch was inside the castle. We all burst out laughing, except for Lily Evans, who walked over to James, and slapped him in the face, causing the laughs to subside. "You foul, foul boy!" she yelled at him. "That was a really mean trick! You're going to get us all in serious trouble!"  
James grinned. "Who's going to-"  
"I found out! And Professor McGonagall will know in a minute!" and she stalked off.  
We all looked at each other for a moment, and Hestia and Emmeline followed Lily into the building.  
James was called into McGonagall's office around lunchtime, and returned during Charms, causing Vernes to take ten points of Griffindor. James showed McGonagall's note to him, but he refused to award the points back. The Slytherins snickered from the other side of the room. "This is the worst day ever," muttered James under his breath, and wrote a note on a spare bit of parchment:  
McGonagall has given me a week's detention in the hospital wing, and took seventy points from Griffindor... fifty because of the 'crime', and twenty more for objecting to it... Merlin, when am I going to learn to keep my mouth shut!  
-James  
I passed the note to Peter on my left under the desk, who stupidly sent it to Sirius over the table. "Well, well, well," said Professor Vernes, in a low and sinister voice. "What have we here?" he seized the note and read it out loud. "Mr. Potter," he said after he had finished, "you do need to keep your mouth shut... and your quill steady. Ten more points will be taken from Griffindor." once Vernes had resumed his lecture on the importance of proper wand movements, James started to bang his head softly against the desk.  
  
We usually did everything together- homework, lunch, dinner, classes, even detention, but James was gone for a week, working in the hospital wing. When he got back from his detention on the first day, he seemed very depressed. He slumped in his favorite red armchair by the Griffindor fireplace, and began to stare into space. Sirius was trying his very hardest to make James laugh. I kept one eye on James and Sirius, and the other on the piece of parchment I was folding into a fan shape. I then pinched the middle, so it was in a bow shape. "Move over, and let a professional do it," I said to Sirius, pushing him away. "He-he-hem..." I put the bow shape to my lip like a mustache, "Pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent," I said in a deep and sinister voice. Next, I put it to my forehead, like a bow, and said in a high voice, "I can't pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent," next, back to the mustache: "You must pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent," I switched back to the bow on the head: "I can't pay the rent, the rent, the rent, the rent!" I then placed the parchment at my neck like a bow-tie, and said (heroically): "I'll pay the rent!" I put it on my head again: "My hero!" Then the lip: "Curses, foiled again!" Remus, Sirius, and Peter laughed, but James just weakly smiled, but then became more animated throughout the night.  
  
I hadn't bothered to check my moon charts, so when Remus came up to us saying he needed to go back to his mother for the night, it was quite unexpected- well, to me at least. James, Peter, and Sirius had grown used to it, so they said goodnight to him, and I pretended I was going to bed. I looked out the window as I recorded the date on my list. October of that year had a blue moon.  
  
A/N: The "I'll pay the rent" thing was from a friend of mine. I don't know where she got it, but I kinda stole it. One other thing: a blue moon is technically the second blue moon in a month, not a real blue colored moon. I hope you like this chapter, it's one of my faves, but I like the next one the best so far. Happy reviewing!  
Julez 


	5. Werewolf Research

Werewolf Reaserch:

A short, chapter, next chap. up very soon! possibly even today!

Of course I knew Remus was a werewolf. I needed no convincing. But I thought James and Sirius might.

So, for a week or two I was spending all my free time in the library, copying pages out of books, and learing ways to test Remus, for other evidence. I learned that werewolves reacted to pure silver, but not to Sickles, because of a special charm placed on them. So I needed some uncharmed silver for one test. And I could see only one source of it.

Lily Evans.

Lily's birthday had been in October, and her parents had sent her a beautiful silver ring. She didn't show it off, really, but she made a point of telling all the first year girls about it. I needed to borrow that ring, but me asking Lily to borrow somthing was like... well, it was like something unusual. Lily, although she didn't go around slapping people anymore (namely James) was a sort of mini Prefect. She hung around with the older, more responsible half of the Gryffindors, and her small gang from the first years joined her whole heartedly.

But one day, I summoned up my courage and asked her. "Lily," I said, "can I borrow your ring?" she opened her mouth slightly but I kept going. "Lily, just for a day, I really want to see it," (I was quickly realizing how lame this sounded). "I'll give it back in one piece, I'm not going to steal it or anything."

Lily continued to stare at me. "No," she said finaly. "I don't think so. Not... you. You'll... steal it. For sure. Your one of them. Potter's gang. Just... just leave me alone."

Okay, strike one.

No more Miss Nice Marauder.

It was time for plan B.

So, I had to steal it. Just for an hour. At night, I stole it, and extreamly carefully tiptoed away. I walked up the stairs to the boy's dormitory, opened the door slowly, and slipped inside. Remus's bed was the one nearest to me as I went into the room. I could hear Peter's squeaky snore, and James talking to himself while asleep. "Quiddich.." mumbled James as I took the ring out of my pocket, an pressed it against Remus's arm. He gave a slightly canine sounding yelp, and I pulled the ring away revealing a small patch of pinkish skin. It looked like I had just touched him with a red hot poker. He groaned and turned over in his sleep ans I ran back down the stairs, and into Lily Evans. Whoops.

"Hi Lily," I muttered.'

"Have you seen my ring?" she said. "I think I left it down here."

"Uh... no. I'll help you look, though," I said, feeling a bit guilty now that I saw how worried she looked.

"Thanks," she said, and she continued to look. I planted the ring under one of the red armchairs in the common room, and told her I was very tired, and had to go to bed.

"Classes in the morning, you know."

"Tomorrow's Saturday."

"Uh... lots of homework piled up."

"Oh... okay."

"I'm sorry about your ring," I said, feeling like I was apologizing for taking it.

"It's okay. It'll turn up."

"Goodnight, then."

"Yeah, g'night."

So, I walked upstairs, and saw Lily turn towardsthe chair the ring was under, and I heard her shriek with glee while I pulled out my parchment, and recorded: 'November 1: Unusual silver allergy. Looks like I burned him with something. Tested on right arm.'

Would that convince the other Marauders?

Well? Will it?

i'm sorry its short i be tired and i just finnished next chapter, my absoulte favorite so far. I started another HP story, and am thinking about posting one of my original things on fictionpress. A funny one called the stupid little coconut. Maybe.

later

Julez


	6. The Werewolf

A/N: Okay, so I lied. This is my fave chappie. I luved writing it, and it seemed to write itself during the best bit. This was meant to go were 'Werewolf Research' is now, but I thought I needed another chap. in between. There might be a few things wrong about the Shrieking Shack stuff cuz i'm 3000 miles away from my HP3 book at the moment. Sry. Continuing not to own HP and the marauders, much to my displesure.

Professor Roberts launched into a discussion of her favorite Quiddich team, the Holyhead Harpies; I pulled out my list, and turned to the marked page on werewolves in my book. Remus was sitting up at the front with Peter and Sirus, as we came late and that was the only other free table in the room. "James," I whispered, poking him in the ribs. He had fallen asleep, even though he loved Quiddich. "Look at this." James woke suddenly and took the parchment.

"Remus? A _werewolf?_"

"Yeah. Look. He was gone on the nights of the full moon, and here... "Werewolves often have eyes that differ from normal human colors" ... Remus's eyes are amber... sort of yellow. And here..." I opened _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. "Read this..." While James read it, his eyes widened

"He... why would he hide this from us? We're his _friends!"_

I shrugged, but I knew the answer already. "He'd be afraid that we'd desert him. He's probably had to deal with that before."

"When's the next full moon?" he asked, still sounding skeptical.

I felt a little confused about why he was asking but I said, "November 26," anyway.

"We're going after him. For proof."

I gasped silently as Professor Roberts ended with a short anecdote about a friend's hippogriff. James gathered his books, and walked out the door, as Sirius, Remus, and Peter woke up and followed us. "James, no!" I said, as I followed him, "That's too dangerous!"

We broke off quickly as Remus caught up.

James and I explained to Sirius later. I was a bit concerned about clueing in Peter, but we did anyway. For the next few nights, I was explaining what I had found in the library. James, Sirius, and Peter then started a three day research cycle, reading books on everything from werewolf codes, to how silver was formed in nature. Anything and everything about werewolves would be common knowlege to the Marauders.

At last, the full moon came. I tried, along with Peter, to convince him that it wasn't such a good idea to sneak up on Remus while he was transformed. James wanted to, though, and Sirius seemed more angry at Remus than scared, so on went the plan. Remus left the common room at the usual time, and soon after, cloak on, we followed him.

It seemed to be hours tiptoeing under the cloak until wer got outside. We paused just far enough from the Whomping Willow. "How do we get by it?" asked James.

"Leave it to me," I whispered, and darted out from under the cloak.

Okay, so I'd like to say I was all heroic, got a stick, touched the knot, and we all went under the tree, but that wasn't the case. It seemed a lot harder in real life to freeze the tree than it did in the books. By the time I got it frozen, I had lost one lens in my glasses, torn my robes, and had a new, deep cut on my arm. "Ta-da," I said sarcasticly, as I popped the lens back into the frame. We then started towards the frozen tree.

Soon, we were all standing in the passageway underneath the tree. Once again, I felt like I had taken a trip inside my own imagination. At the end of the passage we stepped into the Shrieking Shack. We obivously had made some noise, because Remus came walking down the stairs, cluching his stomach, saying, "Professor McGonagall? You shouldn't be here now!"

"Remus, it's us," said James.

Remus stopped dead. "W-w-what are you doing here?"

"We're here to get some answers!" said Sirius sharply.

"Not now! Please, go! If you're here, you must know why I am too! Please, I don't want to-" But Remus didn't finnish his sentence. His limbs became rigded, he began to shake.

"Remus?" squeaked Peter, who was now cowering behind James.

"Remus, we're your friends, we know you won't hurt us!" said James brightly, but I could here a quiver in his voice. Remus had started to change. He ran up the stairs, and we could see fur growing on his arms. There was a muffled scream, a rip, a crunch, a howl, and then... silence.

And the fully grown werewolf was seen at the top of the stairs. He stood for a second, illuminated by the moonlight comming in through a window upstairs. I think, that just for a minute period of time, my heart acually stopped beating.

And then it started thundering. Remus/werewolf saw us, and I knew Remus wasn't there anymore. Its eyes were no longer a freindly amber, but an odd sort of orange, almost red, that caught the light in an odd sort of way. He began to growl, and walk down the stairs, stalking its favorite and long-denied prey: human. As if I had been watching a video that had been in slow motion, set now at full speed, the creature began to run, bound, leap down the stairs, and advance on us. And for a second I got a good view of him. His fur was mostly brown, with grey and black streaks. An open mouth revealed inch long incredibly sharp canine teeth, and its paws, ending in black thick claws were _huge_.

Peter was openly sobbing now, bawling like a baby. The werewolf seemed to like the fact that it was causing fear. I think he liked the smell. I swallowed and whispered to James, who was standing next to me, "Run, now."

As if somone suddenly pressed the play button, we all ran out into the passageway. we could hear the thundering gait of the huge wolf-creature behind us, hear its growing breath advancing-

It pounced.

It grabbed Peter's robes, and I thought he had bitten him, but he didn't. Peter began to wail harder, as the werewolf pulled him into the passageway. Sirius, James, and I grabbed Peter and pulled. We scrambed out of the passage. The tree snapped back into action, sealing the thing that controlled Remus into the passage.

I woke up the next moring, confused about the ripped robes on my trunk, and why the glasses (still on my face) were scratched. Then it all came back: the willow, the shack, and, of course, the werewolf. I looked at my watch, got out of bed and dressed into un-ripped robes. I met Peter, James, and Sirius in the common room. They were all pale-faced, especialy Peter. They greeted me solmnly, and we proceded down to the great hall.

It was an unusually nice day that afternoon, so we ate lunch quickly and ran outside, were most people were anyway. We saw Remus, eating a sandwitch under our favorite tree, and went towards him. Remus turned completely white, and ran back into the castle, running straight through a group of giggling second year Ravenclaw girls.

Remus was absent throughout the rest of the day, and at dinner, he sat at the opposite end of the table from us. I decided to try and take action. "Remus," I said, walking up to him, "you can't avoid us forever. We're your _friends_. We won't desert you, we'll help you... we'll... oh!" he had grabbed my arm, and was dragging me out of the Great Hall. I could feel every pair of eyes on us; everyone knew we were two of the Marauders. Remus walked faster, he was very strong. _Must be the werewolf thing, _I thought, as we walked through the door, well, he walked, I stumbled over my own feet.

"You have no clue what it's like for me," said Remus. "I've lost friends because I let it slip what I am. And to have you do that to me... Did you want me to live with the shame of killing my best friends and having no controll over it?"

"I'm sorry about that! I told James it wasn't such a good idea. He seemed to think it wasn't possible... He had to see you... you know. Sirius seemed angry, like he didn't beleive it either. I'm really sorry... I should have told you I found out, not them. Maybe, then, I could have helped you... and you could have told them when you were ready to."

Remus finaly smiled. "Thanks."

James, Sirius, and Peter finaly caught up with us.

"So we're cool?" I asked him.

"Yeah, we're cool..."


	7. Remus's Story

Note: I wrote this chapter a few weeks ago, but never put it up. Whoops. I'm back at school now, so there's a lot on my plate. I have written a bit since then, but it's on an original story of mine, and later chapters of this. I have it pretty much all planed out, I just need to write it.

P.S.: I changed the chapter names so it's easier for me to keep track of what I've posted.

Remus's Story

Soon after, Remus became his old self again. James seemed fine, even happier, now that he felt like Remus trusted him more. But not everyone seemed too cheerful. Sirius seemed to become closer to James and further from Remus, even though they still were great friends. Peter, on the other hand, seemed scared of Remus, and made excuses not to be around him. One night after dinner, Remus sat down next to me in the common room. Peter immediately began babbling: "I have to finish Professor Vernes's essay on Color-Change Charms... in the library... bye."

Sirius glanced at Peter shuffling up his spare parchments and quills. "But that's not due 'till next week! Peter, I have never seen you trying to get ahead with your homework."

"Same," said James, looking oddly at Peter. "What's wrong, mate?"

"I know what's wrong," growled Remus. "Me," he finished grabbing his books, and started to walk up to the boy's dormitory.

That left us shocked, as none of us had ever seen Remus lose his temper before. Peter sat back down, looking ashamed. "Peter," I said, beginning to lose my own temper, "its just Remus. He's no different then before," I lowered my voice slightly, "now that we know the truth."

"Aren't you scared? He's really strong... and what if he bit one of us!" squeaked Peter.

"He wouldn't waste his time biting you," I said, and followed Remus.

I found Remus sitting on his bed reading something on a piece of parchment. "My aunt was right," Remus said when he saw me, a fake grin on his face, "I never should have come to Hogwarts."

"What?" I said, "Who told you shouldn't come to Hogwarts?"

"My aunt Silvia. My mum's sister. She never trusted me. She wouldn't let me visit her or even meet my two cousins," he said sadly. "She thought I would bite someone here, or something. She told my mum not to trust a werewolf. After that, she wasn't allowed visit. But she sent me this note. One of my cousins is a third year Slytherin. I don't know who it is though, not even his last name," he picked up his aunt's letter. "I brought this so I could prove her wrong... I failed miserably. She said I wouldn't make any friends, and if I did, they would leave me when they found out what I am."

"You must have it bad," I said, feeling really sorry for Remus.

"Not all the time," he flashed the fake grin again. "There are perks... like... an instant excuse for anything I don't want to go to... as long as it's full moon."

I smiled weakly. "Tell me how you were..." I started, but stopped when I realized it might be really painful for him to talk about how he was turned into a werewolf. "Sorry..." I muttered.

"No. I'll tell you. I've never told anyone before. My dad was a Muggle named John Stuart. My middle name is John because of him. He was going to marry my mum, but she told him she was a witch, and he left her, pregnant with his kids."

"Kids?" I interrupted. "What?"

"Twins. Who my mother named Remus and Romulus."

"Oh, I get it now. Continue."

"Thanks. Er... Romulus died when we were very small. He had always been sick. I don't remember him at all. So it was just mum and I. She had a small, underpaid job at a store in a village that was five miles away from the cabin where mum and I live. It's really small, but really pretty there. And there are a lot of wizards in the town. I used to be friends with some of the kids. Until I was bitten.

"I was four when it happened. Mum had heard rumors of a werewolf in the area. So she wouldn't let me out one night when she was going to work. It was full moon. I told you once I had a cat, and I do. He went out though the window, and I thought he wasn't allowed out either, so I unlocked the door and followed him.

"There's a big forest near our house. I chased Merlin- that's my cat- into the forest, and that's when I saw the werewolf. He was huge, with black fur all over, with huge red eyes. It was so scary... I was only very small. I tried to run, but my feet seemed frozen in place. Merlin hissed at him, and the werewolf looked at me. I don't know really what happened next, but next thing I knew, I was in the hospital.

"The Healer was really nice. She asked me if I knew what happened when werewolves bit people. I told her I didn't know, and she said that I was a werewolf too. I didn't believe her, because to me werewolves were... you know, wolves. I had to stay there the whole month, until the full moon.

"The first time I transformed was horrible. Like someone was pulling my skin in different directions... Later I read that during a werewolf's first transformation, almost every bone in its body is broken, and healed by the next day. It was awful, feeling all this pain, and then feeling something else surface in your own brain, taking you over... wanting to bite people.

"Some people think that werewolves can control themselves when they transform, but we can't. It's like... I don't know, there are two minds inside my head, a human's and a wolf's. Most of the time the human is in control, but the wolf takes over at full moon. He's there, though, all the time. I can feel him, but when the moon isn't full, I'm in control. It's scary sometimes, knowing that my body isn't always really mine. I'm just there at full moon, the wolf controls.

"I'm scared of the full moon, I can't stand to even see pictures of it. The wolf is always there... waiting to come out again. He makes some of my senses stronger- I can hear and smell things better than most people. Not mush compensation, though. I told you I used to be friends with some of the wizard children in the village near where I lived. I had to make excuses to why I couldn't go out on days after full moon, because I always felt awful after them, because I have no one to bite but myself. I eventually told them, and they were scared of me, and I didn't want to be friends with anyone else, just in case. I don't want anyone to be afraid of me; I don't want to hurt anyone. I'll understand if Peter doesn't-"

I interrupted for the fist time in a long while: "Don't mind Peter. If he's scared of you for no reason, then he doesn't deserve to be your friend."

"Thank you, Juliet," said Remus quietly. "I'm going to go back down to the common room and get the rest of my stuff, and do my work up here. Would you stay?"

I nodded, and he went down. I looked at the bed and saw Remus's aunt's letter. Let's see what she had to say, I thought, and picked up the letter:

Remus, (she wrote)

I heard that you got into Hogwarts, and I am very displeased that Albus Dumbledore let you in. He seems like the worst thing that ever happened to Hogwarts, and now he lets a werewolf in! It's ludicrous. You should never trust a werewolf, and that's what I got stuck with for a nephew: a werewolf. I don't trust you, Remus, and no one else should. Not the students or teachers. Any friends you make will be scared of you if you tell them, or angry that you hid the fact that you are a bloodthirsty monster at full moon from them. If you don't tell them, you'll feel guilty, or they'll work it out. Normal wizard children get accepted to Hogwarts because they're smart. You got in because Dumbledore feels sorry for you. I am writing this letter because I don't think you should go to Hogwarts. You will be putting students in danger, and I wouldn't be surprised if you were expelled. You shouldn't have been accepted in the first place, and I hope that you think about refusing to go. You could be a sensible boy, if you weren't what you are, so listen to me. Do you want to be guilty of murdering or injuring a fellow student?

Your aunt, Silvia.

"She doesn't sound very nice," I said softly to myself.

"I know," said Remus, who I hadn't noticed entering.

"Sorry, Remus. It was there and I wanted to see-"

"Don't worry about it," he said with a grin (a real one this time), and we started to work.

Peter didn't seem to be frightened of Remus anymore, but I was a little suspicious still. I didn't trust Peter as much as the other Marauders, although I realized that he hadn't killed anyone yet, and shouldn't be blamed. It was just that I had always hated this figure 'Wormtail' and now that I knew him personally, he didn't seem so bad. Sure, he was a little weird, he wasn't bad yet, and I began to wonder what changed him.

I soon saw what it was, or at least, the start of it. After his little encounter with a full-grown werewolf, he seemed to latch onto James and Sirius for protection from everything. He didn't really fear Remus anymore, but he seemed to like the fact that if people knew the truth about him, they'd be scared. No one else seemed to notice this, and I decided to keep it to myself.

Note: Don't hate Peter, hate the wizard he's become. Juliet is only getting that now. I like the next chapter so much I am posting a preview. If you don't want a preview, stop reading now.

"The boy with glasses! The tall one with long hair! You know, Potter and Black!" screamed McGonagall.

"Huh?"

"Short one with blonde hair! Brown hair- Pettigrew and Lupin!"

"Who are...?"

"Your FRIENDS, idiot girl!"

"Which are...?"

"Friends! Partners in crime! What ever you want to call them!"


	8. Playing Stupid

Playing Stupid

The full moon was shining though the window of Gryffindor tower, and all of the Marauders expect Remus sat in the common room. I sat close to the window, watching the Whomping Willow wave its branches menacingly at some bats. James and Sirius were supposed to be practicing the Growth Charm, but were playing a game of Gobstones instead. Peter let out a shrill laugh, and I turned to see Sirius covered in goo. He didn't look happy. While Sirius was pulling out his wand to glean himself up, a howl pierced though the otherwise silent night air. Peter looked up, white-faced, and I turned my attention back to the window. "I wish we could help you, Remus," I said to myself as I looked out. I knew one day there would be the Wolfsbane Potion, but as I was failing miserably at potions, I knew I wouldn't be the one to invent it.

"What was that, Juliet?" asked James, who was walking to the window.

"I want to help Remus," my mouth said with no consent from my mind. I screamed at myself inside: You fool! Of course he'll be helped! Didn't you read the third book?

"That's not a bad idea," muttered James, ruffling his already untidy hair. "Not a bad thought at all..."

It took one week and a well-placed Transfiguration class for James to get the idea of becoming Animagi. We had a substitute teacher named Professor Deneb for the Transfiguration class on the next Monday. He explained that Professor McGonagall had to go to the Office of Regulation and Control of Animagi at the Ministry of Magic in London to get her license renewed. Without that, she wouldn't be allowed to transform. James, always alert in Transfiguration, caught this, and I could practically see his ears prick up. James innocently asked a few more questions, and ended up with a small list of books on Animagi that could be found in the Hogwarts library.

After dinner was over, James fetched the Invisibility Cloak and we made our way to the library. James, after four hours of reading, finally announced what he had been thinking: "We should become Animagi," he whispered, "to help Moony." During the week, Sirius had pulled the name 'Moony' out of thin air for when we were talking about the times Remus was transformed, but it had become his nickname. "It says here that Animagi in animal form can't be tuned into werewolves! We can help him, for sure."

"That sounds hard," said Peter, a quaver in his voice. I looked around at the faces of the other Marauders. Sirius and James had their noses in Animagi books, and Remus... he looked hopeful.

"James, we're only first years, we can't do magic that hard," I said before I could stop myself. Lately, I had been noticing that happening, knowing that one thing would happen, yet saying the complete opposite.

"I know it's tough, and it takes a few years, but we could do it by fourth or fifth year-"

He was cut of by the sound of a door opening, and McGonagall, who had returned earlier, saying "Who's in there? I hear you!" James through the Cloak over himself, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, and mouthing "Sorry," while he did it. McGonagall's candlelight blinded me for a second, but then my eyes adjusted. "What are you doing here, Reilly?" she asked.

I decided to play stupid (maybe a little too stupid). "I don't know," I said.

"Don't lie to me, girl, I know you're one of... one of them."

"One of who?"

"You know... Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew."

"Who?"

McGonagall turned red "Your friends, idiot girl! The boys you are constantly causing trouble with! What do they call themselves? The Mess-Arounders, or something!"

"Come again?"

"You know! _Them!_ The Thingies... the Messers... the Marvelous ones... Merlin! Help me out here!"

"With what?"

"The boy with glasses! The tall one with long hair! You know, Potter and Black!" screamed McGonagall.

"Huh?"

"Short one with blonde hair! Brown hair- Pettigrew and Lupin!"

"Who are...?"

"Your FRIENDS, idiot girl!"

"Which are...?"

"Friends! Partners in crime! What ever you want to call them!"

I was getting to her now. "Call what?"

She was shaking with fury. "Get to bed, girl, get to bed quick!"

"Where?"

"GRIFFINDOR TOWER!"

"Oh... Where's that?"

"You know perfectly well where it is, girl, now get out of here!"

I left that time, waiting outside for the others, who pulled the Cloak over my head. "That was _brilliant!" _said Sirius. "You should have seen McGonagall after you left! It was absolutely _incredible!_"

Yes, being called 'brilliant' by a Marauder was... interesting. Part of me thought a bout the books I loved, and another part thought about my friends, and well, life. It was all very hard. This was Sirius Black, favorite character, Marauder, _friend._

You have no idea what that's like.

In time, we all agreed to the Animagi idea, but we all decided to wait a while- until we knew more magic. This meant, some research, but mostly normal life, which included waiting for the Christmas Holidays. Presumably, I'd be going 'home'. Unfortunately, although I knew I lived in Ireland, I was at a loss for where. It was odd, not knowing. The details of my life that I had made up so far were true, but it seemed a little confused inside my own head. It felt like someone had filled my head with the details, and then added some cotton wool and took out a few major details, just to make it a little more fun.

I wasn't laughing.


	9. What a Waste of a Winter Break

What a Waste of a Winter Break

To '...': YES! I am in Sirius Denial. I went crazy for a while after the third film- just ask any of my friends. He is/was my favorite character.

Five days before Christmas, the term ended, and alongside James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus, I rode the Hogwarts express back to London. We had agreed to go to James's house for the night before the term began, and to exchange gifts there.

My mother met me at the train station. My mother, according to my stories, was a witch, yet she was dressed in Muggle clothing, and, taking my trolley, immediately began pestering me with questions:

"Were those boys the friends that you told me about?"

"Yep," I said shortly, not feeling too talkative.

"What are their names again?"

"Peter, James, Sirius, and Remus."

"Get to know any girls?"

Not this again. "Uh... yeah. One Lily Evans. She's in Gryffindor too."

"Any homework over the break?"

"No, none." Now for my question: "How are we getting home?"

"We're flooing from the Leaky Cauldron, of course!"

"Oh, yeah. How could I have forgotten?"

The village was... odd. And small. Brockenstown as it was called, was the only pure wizarding village in Ireland. It seemed entirely unfamiliar... but at the same time as if I'd lived there for years. I knew where everything was, and our house was not a shock- I was sure that I'd seen it before. The inside was the same- new yet old, and I could find everything in it. Including my own room.

My room looked the same as the one I remembered from my, shall we call it, old life. The furniture was the same- and it was in the same places. The books were different, though. I couldn't remember buying "Simple Spells for the Learning Witch" or "Fun With Potions"- but reading the titles, I came to the conclusion that my mother bought these for me. I could see myself reading, though, "100 Spells to Fool Your Friends" and "Useless Charms That Might Come in Handy Some Day, You Never Know". Somehow I knew that there was a book shop in the village. My world map with the pins of where I'd been was there, on my wall, but my Harry Potter poster was missing, of course. It was like a very odd dream.

I decided that I would change out of my school robes, though, and opening my closet, I found both robes and jeans hanging in it, and decided on a set of dark blue robes (my favorite color). While telling my mother I was going out, I stuffed a few coins in my pocket, and walked out the door. Somehow, I knew were everything was in the village, and I knew where I wanted to go for my friend's presents. I bought a book, "Hairy Snout, Human Heart" for Remus, a huge box of Peter's favorite candy, Chocolate Frogs, for him, and for Sirius and James, Chudley Cannons hats, scarves, and trading cards.

When I walked out of The Sweet Cauldron, some idiot ran headlong into me. I dropped my bag, and hoped that the Chocolate Frogs weren't set loose. "Idiot!" I said, "I just bought that!"

"Juliet?" said the boy, helping me up. "Juliet Reilly?"

"Yes?" I looked at him, and a name came to mind: Mark Weasley. He did have red hair... "M-Mark?"

"How was Hogwarts?" he shouted gleefully, not noticing my slight confusion. "I can't wait to go!"

He's eleven in two months, my brain told me. "Hogwarts is great... um, how are you?"

He launched into a speech about his family, and I learned that he was Arthur Weasley's cousin's son, but I can't remember if he told me, or if the information came out of my head again. Eventually, he let me go, and I walked back to my house.

Christmas was quiet- me and my mother exchanging gifts, with cards by owl post from the Marauders. Until then, my break had been normal, reading and walking trough the village, but I decided to do something with my remaining time- something entirely school like. What a waste of a winter break.

My task was to write down everything I could remember from the books I was, I suppose, living in. Details were slipping away, and I became more... inclined to say what I would have said if I didn't know the future. I hope that makes sense, because it was a very odd feeling, saying one thing and thinking another. Plus, what kind of impact would I have on the future? A good one, I hoped. I did want to save my friends, including Lily, even though she wasn't my friend... yet. Or maybe she never would be. The point is, I felt like I needed to remember these details.

Every day, I'd write down what I remembered: character details, and even some whole quotes from the books. It was long and boring work, but I think it helped me, later on. I was shocked that I had forgotten major details, like half of the first book

While I was doing this, I realized something: _four_ Marauders made it possible for them to be Animagi in _fifth _year... but what about _five?_

Would that be good... or bad?

One day left... one day until I met up with my friends again... then... what? Would we trying to be Animagi? I hoped not- I'd already wasted my winter break with work.


	10. A Semi Non Wasteful End

Note to last chapter: I got the name 'Brockenstown' from Brocken, a mountain peak in Germany, where witches were supposed to gather on Walpurgis Night, a witches holiday, something made famous in "Faust".

Oh, and much to my dislike, I STILL don't own anything in this story except Juliet Reilly. That, and some of the teachers. And Brockenstown. ANYTHING that you don't recognize is MINE, MINE I TELL YOU! ALL MINE! MUHAHAHA!

CHAPTER NINE:

A (SEMI) NON-WASTEFUL END

I gathered my things, including my Christmas present, a female Barn owl I had named Cassiopeia, in front of the fireplace. Giving one last check that I hadn't forgotten anything, I grabbed the Christmas presents that I bought. "Be good for Mrs. Potter," my mother said, hugging me one more time.

However unlikely this was, I still said, "Don't worry, Mom, I will. Could you remember to mail that letter to Dad by Muggle post?"

"I will, don't worry," she said, straightening my glasses. "You have fun now."

She helped me load my things into the fireplace, and I took a pinch of Floo Powder. Cassiopeia gave one last hiss-like call as I said (as clearly as possible) "The Potter Residence!" Up came the green flames, and I started to spin as Cassiopeia continued to hiss.

"Oof," I said, as I landed in James's fire place. Cassiopeia hissed louder.

"Hello!" Said a kind voice, as I brushed ash of my shirt. "You must be Juliet."

I looked up into the face of Mrs. Potter. She had hazel eyes just like James. "Yes, I am," I said, now polishing my glasses. "It's very nice to meet you."

"I'll call James," she said, and called, "James! Another one of your friends has arrived! William, come down here and help!"

A man with glasses and untidy hair just like James's appeared. "You didn't need to shout, Anne," he said, putting the copy of the Daily Prophet he had been holding down on a table. "I was only in the next room." He looked down at me and said, "Hello. Are you James's friend?"

"Yes, sir," I said. He looked so much like James!

James and Sirius walked into the sitting room. "Nice owl," said Sirius, examining the frantic Cassiopeia.

"She didn't like traveling by Floo," I said truthfully, as Mr. Potter stated to levitate my stuff up to what I suspected was James's room. "Are Peter and Remus here yet?"

"Yeah," said James. "They're upstairs. Peter's never seen a television before, and Remus was trying to drag him away from it."

"You have a TV?" I asked as we began to walk up the stairs.

"Yeah. My parents are Muggle obsessed. The house is all-Muggle, except for the Floo powder. And my room."

James was right. His room looked like any wizard child's room should. He had moving posters of Quiddich teams plastered on every surface, and comic books such as "The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle" and books like "So You Want to be an Auror?". The only Muggle thing in the room was a TV, which was playing an episode of _"Star Trek"_. Peter had his face pressed against the screen, and it seemed like Remus had recently given up his crusade to separate the two. He was sitting on James's bed (with a Chudley Cannons bedspread) and seemed quite happy that we had returned. "Hi, Juliet," he said to me before turning to James and saying, "It's hopeless. He won't move."

With that, James coolly walked toward the TV, and switched it off. Peter jumped and screamed. "What about those people who live in the box?" he yelled, as James and I laughed. "You killed them!"

"Peter, relax!" I said trying to keep from laughing more. "Their just pictures that move. Muggles make them. For fun."

Peter remained confused.

Mrs. Potter brought up some sandwiches, and we began to exchange gifts. Peter had obviously gone to Honeydukes, as his gifts were all incredibly large boxes of candy. He welcomed the Chocolate Frogs he got in return from me. James and Sirius, who both gave out bags of things from Zonko's, both looked ridiculous in the Chudley Cannons stuff, and Remus really liked the book, which he said was the first of it's kind- a book on werewolves written by a werewolf. Out of all the gifts, Remus's meant the most. It was a Knut, split in five, with a hole at the top and a chain running through it. each of the pieces fit together perfectly. "I did it with a severing charm," said Remus, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"I like it, Remus," I said truthfully. "Thank you- merry Christmas."

"Thanks. Happy Christmas to you too," he said.

"Didja get a letter from the Ministry?" asked Sirius.

"Er... yes," muttered Remus. "Why?"

"HA!" yelled Sirius. "Didn't know you had it in you, Moony! I got one too!"

"Why?" I asked.

"No comment," said James and Sirius together, to which I shrugged. Maybe I didn't want to know.

"Sounds like you two had an interesting break," said Remus raising an eyebrow, his slight embarrassment gone.

"Er... yeah..." said James. "Want to try out the Zonko's stuff on Lizzie?"

"Who's Lizzie?" I asked. I couldn't remembering hearing about a Lizzie Potter.

"My sister," said James. "She's older than me- graduated last year. She starts Auror training soon."

"Oh. Sounds... nice," I said. What happened to her? I thought. She had never been mentioned before in the books...

Lizzie's room was just up the hall from James's. In my bag, I had found a box of the Realistic Roving Roaches we had used on the Slytherins. Passing them around, we slipped them under the door, and... "AHHHHHH!" screamed someone from inside, as we tried to suppress our laughs. The door which we had been leaning on opened, and with a great THUNK we all fell to the floor- still laughing. "JAMES FRANCIS POTTER!" yelled the blonde-haired someone who opened the door, "I KNEW YOU WERE BEHIND THIS!"

"Behind what, Lizzie?" said James, trying to look innocent.

"_Francis?" _said Sirius snorting. James glared at him.

"Lizzie, what ever makes you think I, your loving, sweet, innocent," it was my turn to snort, "younger brother, did... what ever it was?

"Reason number one: you were standing at my door with your..." she looked at us, "friends. Reason number two: you and this one," she kicked Sirius, "bought these in Diagon Alley on Tuesday. Reason number three: you are so not innocent. Reason number four-"

"Okay! I get it, there were plenty of reasons," said James, hitting me for laughing. He stood up, and we followed him. "Hold on a moment," he said, checked his watch, and the began to run. Sirius, Remus, Peter and I followed.

We ran out the door, and onto the street, but continued running. We could hear Lizzie shouting behind us shouting, "I'LL GET YOU JAMES AND YOUR FRIENDS! I SWEAR!"

But we kept running.

Eventually, we had to return to the Potter's, and Mrs. Potter, as expected exploded... to Lizzie. "Your brother has company!" she shouted, once Lizzie protested. "I'll punish him later!" so James was off the hook- from his mother. Lizzie seemed to be another story.

That evening, a miniature war was waged inside the Potter household. The generals were Lizzie Potter, and James Potter. Let the games begin. We used up most of the Zonko's things, Nose-Biting Teacups, Hiccup Sweets, and she managed to bring up fifteen (I counted) embarrassing things about James during dinner. Much later, we set off a chain reaction of Dungbombs in her room- while she was asleep. Unfortunately, she woke up Mr. and Mrs. Potter when she screamed. That time, Mrs. Potter got very mad- at James, and sent us all to bed.

Mr. Potter had arraigned five sleeping-bags in the sitting room, and the boys fell asleep instantly- it was almost two o'clock. I stayed up for a short while though, fingering the Knut piece around my neck. I liked this present best of all- it seemed to meaningful. Eventually I did fall asleep, lulled by Peter's snores.


	11. The Return of the Marauders

Hello.

A number of odd events, most of them but not all school related almost convinced me to quit on the Fifth Marauder.

Stupid conscience, how I loathe thee.

So, I'm baaaaack! With a vengeance, too. I'm sorry, but many things happened: a story of mine was removed, I started a new original story, school happened, homework, fencing three times a week, and for the last two weeks I've been, very sick. I apologize, but with school in full blast ("The horror! The horror!" - Kurtz, the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. Our history summer reading) the updates will be slow, possibly short, and very erratic. Sorry to all those organization freaks in way, way advance. So, I shall now turn up the music and write.

The Return of the Marauders

As soon as we got back to school, I won a lot of money. Professor Roberts had left, and I won the pot, of a sort. That was a very good way to start, I think. Our new teacher was a substitute for the rest of the year or until a new teacher could be hired. Professor Devant was not a bad teacher, but most of his lessons were completely forgettable.

So, days turned to weeks, weeks turned into exams, and before we even realized it, we were no longer first years. We were second-year Gryffindors. Which, in all honesty, scared me.

I'd been in this 'world' if you should call it that, a year, and it still seemed unreal. It was like at any minute I was apt to wake and hear my mother calling me to get ready, school was going to start in half an hour, and I was going to be late. And I would remember a wonderful dream of the Marauders, and after an hour or so, it would have been forgotten...

But that didn't happen, and the newly-turned-twelve Juliet Reilly was boarding the Hogwarts express...

...when Sirius Black plowed right into her. "You idiot, Sirius!" I yelled, as Cassiopeia began her trademark frantic hissing, "You could have killed me!"

"No I couldn't have. Look what you landed on," he said, having no problem keeping a straight face.

I looked. I was sitting on top of James Potter, who, in turn, was sprawled over Peter Pettigrew, both of whom were glaring angrily at Sirius. "Well, then, you could have killed them," I muttered, as he helped me up. "Come on, the train leaves soon."

Sirius lead us to a compartment where Remus sat, fast asleep. One of Remus's talents was becoming comfortable enough to sleep anywhere he was, and then sleeping soundly. "Full moon last night," said Sirius, stuffing a hand into a pocket as the train began to move. "Birthday gold," he said, pulling out a large amount of money. "The trolley comes to this one first..."

Sure enough, he was right, and we each bought enough chocolate to fill two of our trunks to the brim. Remus woke up promptly at the smell of the chocolate, and stole huge amounts from everyone. By the time we all began eating, it was impossible to tell who had bought what. Settling in amongst the Marauders is very easy- you just do what ever you want. For instance, in that compartment, Remus had gone back to sleep, having consumed many, many chocolate frogs. Peter and Sirius, who both collected the Famous Witch and Wizard cards, had taken Remus's and were swapping them, while James was reading some Quiddich magazine. I was having a look at "Useless Charms That Might Come in Handy Some Day, You Never Know", when the usual Slytherin pack came barging in. Like we weren't expecting that lot to come in.

"Still hanging out with the Blood Traitors, then, Sirius," said Bellatrix, who was now in her last year at Hogwarts. "Regulus isn't. Isn't that right, Reg?"

A small boy, who looked almost nothing like Sirius came forward. He had the same hair, but coal black eyes in place of Sirius's gray. He looked at all of us in turn, and nodded. All of the Slytherins laughed, especially Snape, who seemed to have moved up in the ranks. They drew their wands, and so did I, yelling the first spell that came to mind: "Florae Ecce!". Jets of multicolored light came out of my wand and hit the Slytherins, who became covered in flowers. Jets of light flew out of the mess of flowers. One actually came within two feet of Sirius. That was the closest.

A muffled cry of "Just you wait, Mudbloods! You'll regret it!" came as the bunch shuffled out of the compartment, knocking petals everywhere.

I picked up my book, and dog-eared the page with the Flower Power Charm on it. "So one really did come in useful," I said, showing the book to James, who had started to look at it over my shoulder.

"Can I borrow that?" he asked, and I passed him the book.

"I don't believe it," said Sirius. "Remus _slept_ through that."

Sure enough, Remus was still asleep, mouth open slightly, using a book for a pillow. "He only wakes up when he wants to," I said. "You saw what he did when we bought the chocolate."

"That's because he can smell really well," said Peter, sitting down on one of the seats.

"Good to know, Peter," said James. "Good to know..."

Back at Hogwarts.... It really was wonderful to be back at school; summer break seemed _much _too long to be away. Once the Sorting had finished, another wonderful Hogwarts meal was served, and, grabbing a bit of everything, I began. "Hello, Juliet," said someone beside me. A certain red-headed, green-eyed someone.

"Hello, Evans," I said, swallowing a huge lump of mashed potatoes. "Have a nice break?"

"I see you're still friends with those boys," she said disdainfully, shooting a glance at James and Sirius, who were having a contest to see who could stuff the most food in their mouth.

"Yep," I said as Remus thumped Sirius, who had started choking, on the back. "I see you're still Gryffindor's prefect-in-waiting."

"And just what's wrong with being a prefect?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Time to quote the Weasley twins: "It would take all the fun out of life, Evans. You only get seven years at Hogwarts, why waste them being a prefect?"

"If you stopped hanging out with those idiots," she said, gesturing in James's direction, who was currently gloating over his victory to Sirius, "then maybe you wouldn't think that."

"Why do you even care what I think?" I said, turning away from her. "Go make fun of me behind my back, like girls are supposed to."

Lily let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a hiss, and turned away. I started another food stuffing contest with James.

Our first class the next day was Defence Against the Dark Arts, with our new teacher, Professor Anton. He was better than Professor Roberts by far, actually teaching us, but he had an annoying habit of forgetting to come to class. Still, he actually taught us something, which was a good change. Homework was the least of our worries though: the Slytherins were training their newcomers with bouts of Marauder-hunting. Vengeance, retaliation and reprisal were necessary; it was time for the first prank of the year, to restore our seat as resident mischief makers.

The prank was a difficult one to manage, but fun nonetheless, based on a charm that James had found in "Useless Charms That Might Come in Handy Some Day, You Never Know". We put a charm on the floor right outside the door of the Great Hall, that we could activate whenever we wanted, that would turn whoever we wanted red and gold from head to toe. And we wanted Bellatrix and her group. We arrived early in the Great Hall to ensure that they did not come before us. Soon enough, they came, when enough people were in the hall to see what was happening. James set off the charm, while Sirius, who had wanted to set it off, created a huge banging noise. Every head in the hall popped up just in time to see ten Slytherins, (not so) proudly wearing Gryffindor colors step into the Hall. Everyone except the other Slytherins and teachers began to laugh, and, realizing what had happened, Bellatrix screamed, and, unfairly, of course, McGonagall yelled out, "POTTER! BLACK! LUPIN! REILLY! PETTIGREW! GET UP HERE! NOW!" Proudly we walked up to the teacher's table, with Gryffindors smiling at us as we made our way up. Once we reached her, she shuffled us off to her office, grabbing Bellatrix, and shouting to the other afflicted Slytherins "Come on, you!" as we passed. Once in her office, she seemed to compose herself a little more. "What did you do to them, Potter?" she said, taking a deep breath.

"What makes you sure _I_ did it, Professor?" Said James, trying to look innocent and failing miserably.

"It could have been someone else, Professor." Said Sirius, who wasn't even trying.

"Like whom, Mister Black?" said McGonagall.

"Why would we know, Professor?" Said Sirius, shrugging.

"Firstly, because you are the main pranksters in the school, second, because you do not like the Slytherins, especially this group, third, because I noticed that you happened to arrive very early for breakfast, something you rarely do, and, last of all, I happened to see you do it.

"Oh."

So it was the usual: detention for five. But....

We were back on top again. Gryffindor was once again Marauder territory, which meant the Mini-Prefects of Tomorrow were watching us like hawks. Especially one red-feathered, green-eyed hawk.

Evans.

James was crushing on her, it was no secret to us. The side of me that was born of this world was asking what he saw in her, but the other bit of me could see how he went all odd when Lily was around.

On the plus side, she didn't slap him any more.

"We didn't go after the first years, they walked into the prank!"

James was (once again) pleading our case to McGonagall.

It was a pity: our detention had only ended the night before, and I had been looking forward to a night that was hospital wing cleaning free.

"I don't care who you were after, but you gave five first years grass for hair!"

Alas, James's keen prank-oriented mind had found yet another slightly useful charm in my book.

We were given yet more detention, and as we left her office, we ran into....

Come on, guess.

If you said Lily Rose Evans, you are 100 percent correct.

She had assembled her fellow Mini-Prefects and brought them to McGonagall's door. "What are you doing here, Evans?" said Sirius, as James fell into his usual Lily-induced stupor.

"Apologize to them?" she said, scowling. (Right then, I swore I heard James think, "She's so pretty when she's angry...")

"Apologize to who?" asked Peter, looking confused.

"Them!" she said, pushing forward some very scared and short first years. Some still had remnants of grass in their hair.

It had been funny at the time.

"Awww, Evans!" said Sirius, as Remus seemed to inspect the nearest first year (a shy-looking Hufflepuff boy)'s grass filled head of black hair, "It was just a bit of fun!"

"It wasn't fun for them!" said Lily angrily, as the boy who Remus had been inspecting ran behind the girl next to him (a skinny blonde Ravenclaw).

"We don't need to apologize to them, Evans," I said, as the aforementioned girl moved away from the boy. "That wasn't part of our punishment. Now," I continued nodding to her cronies, "take them and convert someone interested to the cause, or whatever. Come on." I began to walk off, and Sirius, Peter, and Remus followed, but Remus went back to drag James along with us.

One day, a few weeks later, (I think it was the full moon) James did something odd: he went to the library and took out a book. This book would never return to the Hogwarts School Library. The book was called, "Animagi: Unleash the Animal the Quick and Easy Way". It wasn't quick, and it wasn't easy, but it was the beginning.


	12. Unleash the Animal the Quick and Easy Wa...

Yay! More chapters! This might be the last for a while, so be happy and read:

Chapter Eleven:

Unleash the Animal the Quick and Easy Way

James began to read the book. And quote it regularly. For instance: "'An Animagus's form is a reflection of his of herself, isn't that interesting?"

Until Sirius got sick of him and hit him over the head with it.

He stopped quoting it fairly quickly.

But, in turn, we all read it. And, in turn, we all decided that it was time.

We were first starting the first of the Animagus spells in January of 1969, in one of the first secret rooms that we had found in the school: we called it the 'Room of Requirement'. When we went in there to start the first potion, there was, of course, a large cauldron and many potion ingredients. But not all the ingredients we needed:

"Werewolf hair," I said, reading the book. Remus's head turned sharply to look at me.

"Huh?" he said, and walked over to me, and read over my shoulder.

Sirius followed, and after considering, yanked a bit of hair from Remus's head. "Problem solved," he said, as Remus rubbed his head and glared at Sirius.

James and Peter followed suit (by coming over, not yanking hair of Remus's skull). "Look," said Peter, pointing to the bottom of the page. There was a footnote:

"Hair MUST be taken from werewolf on full moon, and while the werewolf is transformed. Otherwise, the whole potion will have no effect, and might be harmful or even fatal if consumed."

"Okay..." said Sirius, flicking away the hairs. "Let's not do that."

"But how are we going to do that?" asked Peter. "I don't think any of us want to go back into the Shrieking Shack unprotected..."

"Don't worry," said Remus. "I'll get it."

So we had to wait a month. The day after the full moon, Remus came to us holding a small vial full of short brown and gray hairs. Back in the Room of Requirement, the next night, we began to mix the potion.

"So... what animal d'you think I'll be?"

We were making the potion in turn, and Peter was up, stirring the simmering mix. Sirius had made the comment, and I was being careful not to let any information slip out of my mouth. "I bet I'll be something like a lion-"

"Perfect for Gryffindor," interjected Remus, his nose stuck in a book.

"I'll be something better," said James, a glint in his eye, "you'll be something... something like a flobberworm."

As James and Sirius argued about who would be the better animal, Peter almost made the mistake of adding lacewing flies instead of powered root of tansy, but Remus caught him in time. "Maybe I'll take my turn now," I said. ("YOU'LL be the amoeba!" yelled Sirius) Remus passed me the vial of his hair, which had been cut into tiny pieces, as James shouted because Sirius had tackled him.

Sirius and James eventually got over their 'who's the best animal' game, but Sirius was still claiming he was going to be a tyrannosaurus rex, and James was swearing that he would turn out to be a hippogriff. The potion, aside from the first night, was easy enough. We just had to go into the Room of Requirement and stir it ten times both ways each night for a month. Finaly, in early March, the potion was complete, and it was time to discover what animal we each could become.

"Now," said Remus, flipping though the book, "It says: 'To discover your 'soul animal', separate the Revealing Potion into as many portions as needed (one for each person)""

As soon as he said that, four small cauldrons appeared on the shelf nearest him. He grabbed the stack, and handed one to each of us. We filled each cauldron to the brim with the disgusting looking potion. "We don't have to drink it... do we?" asked Peter, looking at the slightly yellow liquid, as Sirius bent in low to sniff it, then turning away, looking like he was about to throw up.

"No... no, just... just look at it..." said Remus absently, looking though the book. "Ah... here: "When potion is prepared, add three strands of hair to it, stir five times counter-clockwise with wand, and then watch it for signs of..." oh, no, there's a spot over the next word..."

"I'll do it first," said James, the ever-brave Gryffindor. We crowded around him, wondering what would happen. James bit his lip, pulled out his wand, and yanked some hair off his head. He selected three hairs, and threw them into the potion, which let out a puff of dark smoke. He put his wand in, stirred it and then pulled his wand out.

When he pulled it out, the potion stuck to it briefly, leaving a part of the potion sticking straight out of the cauldron. Slowly, slowly, the lump changed... formed four legs, a head, and many-tined antlers. "Whoa," I said, never imagining this, and the tiny stag pranced around the top of the potion.

"Great. Of all the things I could be I'm a _deer_," muttered James, looking thoroughly disgruntled.

We all laughed, even Remus, his nose finally out of his book.

"It's called a stag, Jamesie," said Sirius, pretending to wipe tears from his eyes. James just fumed more.

Sirius decided to do it next. The figure, this time, was lower to the surface of the potion, and seemed furrier... a miniature dog was soon wagging its tail and running around the edge of the cauldron.

"A dog's good," said Peter.

"Better than a ruddy _deer_," muttered James

Me next... I was wondering what I was going to be...would I like what I was going to be able transform into? I hoped so...

Three long hairs fell into the potion as it was stirred. My wand out, the potion changed... roughly the size of Sirius's dog, but skinnier. It formed a head with a long muzzle and pointed ears. The four-legged figure threw his head back into a mute howl.

"A wolf," muttered Remus. "That's nice."

Me? A wolf? What did that say about me?

Apparently, Sirius was wondering the same question about himself:

"Why, may I ask," he said, "am I a dog and not a dinosaur?"

Remus flipped through the pages of the book. "Well, it says that a person's Animagus form is a reflection of themselves."

"Does it say what that means?" asked Sirius.

"It means that your shape is a visible form of your personality," I said. "For you, that's a dog, which means you're loyal, friendly, energetic, and you like to lick your own-"

"OKAY! I get it! You can shut up now!"

Peter was having a bit more trouble. On the third time, though, he succeeded, and the tiny amount of potion that vaguely resembled a rat started its scurry around the edge of the cauldron.

There were many potions and spells to go, but at that point, we all felt like we were almost there. But, you know how it goes, as we got closer to our goal, James and Sirius's heads began to swell, and as much as I tried, I think mine did too. I guess it was hard not to, given what we were accomplishing. Still, at some points, it felt like I was holding up the giant heads of two boys whose shoulders were too small to support them.

Whew. That was a bit tedious to write, but now that it's written the passage of time until the Marauder's fifth year will be quicker (two or three chapters per year). Also, I made Juliet's future Animagus form a wolf for a three reasons:

One: Wolves live in packs. Juliet and the Marauders have a little pack of their own.

Two: She seems similar to both Sirius and Remus. Kind of halfway between them. I didn't picture her like that, but in the story she evolved herself into that.

Three: A wolf fits with the other Marauders' forms. If I had made her something like an orangutan, it wouldn't have fit.

Ps. Sorry about the orangutan thing, I just got the _Art of Diskworld. _Just something for all you fellow Pratchett nuts out there. TURTLES ALL THE WAY!!


	13. At War With Slytherins

Thank you to Kayhera for her very nice post. Sorry, I'm being cheesy, but I don't really like Thanksgiving much, and you made me very happy. I wrote this a few days ago, but I couldn't post it, so here it is, ta-da. Oh, and, I've started on the next chapter already (yay).

At War With Slytherins

It was almost the end of the year. We had stopped advancing on Animagus spells because of exams, and I think at this point we were almost through the exams. We were studying alone in the common room, when Remus came in, and he had looked much better, I assure you. His robes were torn in several places, and it looked like both his lip and nose had just stopped bleeding. The gold chain on which he wore a small segment of a coin that we each had a piece of was clearly visible. He (like the rest of us) always wore it under his robes. "Remus!" I cried, running to him. The others followed, looking just as concerned.

"What happened?" asked Peter.

"The Slytherins," he said. "I met up with them on the way here. They seemed quite… happy to see me alone."

"Why didn't you fight them back?" asked James as Remus sat down on one of the armchairs by the unlit fire.

"Yeah, Moony," said Sirius. "You're strong enough."

"One of them," he said slowly, "was wearing a silver ring. Hurt like hell and made it hard to think straight."

"That would be Regulus," said Sirius sounding angrier. "The ring with the Black family crest. It marks him as an heir to the Black fortune. I think I lost mine a few years ago when I accidentally threw it down a field…"

"Were they caught?" I asked, while James put a freezing charm on a glass of water and handing it to Remus.

"Yeah… good thing it was McGonagall who walked by and not Vernes. He wouldn't have cared, probably. They all got detection." He handed the glass back to James. "No thanks, I don't need it. It's already beginning to heal, see?" Sure enough, Remus's small cuts were already closed. "I keep forgetting you're not used to it," he said. "Werewolves heal faster than normal humans. That's why it's stopped bleeding already."

By the next day, it was barely noticeable that Remus had been in a fight at all but we had not forgotten. It seemed that no Gryffindor was unknowing about the events of the previous day. Gryffindors were traveling everywhere in packs, and most of the time, we were surrounded by a protective throng of fourth of fifth years, but this wasn't getting us anywhere. We wanted to get back at the Slytherins in a big way, and my book of useless charms wasn't big enough.

But Sirius had a plan, bigger than any one prank we had done, because it wasn't just one prank…

it was five.

We had a map, of sorts. Not the famous Marauder's Map, but an early prototype. It marked out major locations in Hogwarts, and could be wiped clean by any of us. One of these major sites was the Slytherin common room. Early one morning, we set up the stage, and then got under the Invisibility Cloak to watch. Perfectly, Snape was the first to walk out of the Slytherin common room, hooked nose buried in a book.

It was time… Snape stepped on the first prank—a spot spelled to be slippery, and slipped forward, yelling, only to land on the second—the same one we had pulled in the beginning of the year—turning him Gryffindor colors. He stood up, fuming, banging his head on an overhanging ledge, where a bag of silent dungbombs fell straight on to him, exploding with a stink. He backed up, onto a spell, planting a huge, gold capital 'M' on his forehead, spelled not to come off for a week. We could only watch for so long, though, and had to go to class, eventually, so when no one was looking, James whipped off the cloak and stuffed it down his robes, and we walked casually away, and actually got around the corner…

…and walked straight into Professor Vernes. He was with a group of first years who had stepped onto the last prank: a spell which made a person shout out anything we wanted. In this case they were yelling: "LONG LIVE THE MARAUDERS!" over and over again.

"Ah… just who I didn't want to see," he said icily. The effect of the moment was ruined when one of the first years yelled, "LONG LIVE THE MARAUDERS!"

"Hello, Professor!" said Remus briskly ("LONG LIVE THE MARAUDERS!").

"Gotta get to class!" said Sirius. ("LONG LIVE THE MARAUDERS!")

"Not so fast," he said slowly ("LONG LIVE THE MARAUDERS!"), "Come with me…"

So, he threatened us with expulsion, told us we were the shame of Hogwarts, docked us about 200, and gave us each detention for three weeks.

Nothing unusual.

But that didn't stop anything else.

It was full-blown war of Slytherins vs. Gryffindors, now. No dockage of points or detentions could stop it. No Gryffindor or Slytherin could move about the hallways alone, for fear of being caught in a prank or beaten to a pulp. Which also meant that Ravenclaw won the house cup that year by about three-hundred points, with Hufflepuff a close second.

One good thing about the end of second year was that it was Bellatrix's last year. Sure Slytherins were still out for our blood, but that was okay, because… um, well… I guess… well, maybe it _wasn't _okay, but it was still nice to get rid of her.

Yay! I did another chapter! It's short, but, yay! In other news, I got bored and PLANNED OUT THE WHOLE STORY. It was fun though. There should be about fifty (count 'em) FIFTY more chapters in the story. Also, each school year is going to be shorter. For about two years, that is. I have a lot of future chapters written, just to make sure that I will get there. With hope, I will finish this, making it the first almost full length story I've ever written. I have a problem with finishing thi…

Ps: I'm not writing this for reviews, but they still make me happy! (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)


	14. Someone Called Voldemort

Yet another chapter. Has anyone bought the third film yet? I got it yesterday, and I think I like it better than the first time I saw it. For the record, I've seen it three times…

Someone Called 'Voldemort'

We were back—finally, it seemed. Life was boring without the Marauders in my life. I was now thirteen, and on my way to Hogwarts for my third year. I had found James, Remus, Sirius and Peter already, and we had already assembled in our usual compartment, ready to buy sweets, when Sirius pulled out a copy of the _Daily Prophet._ "All right," said Remus, sounding a bit confused, "is it just me, or is Sirius reading the paper?"

Sirius snorted. "Yes, I'm reading the paper. My mother said there'd be an article I should read in here… this must be it, knowing her…"

We crowded around him, looking down at the paper: Mystery Man Terrorizes Muggle-Borns, it read. "Interesting title," I said, glancing at Sirius, who was reading ahead. I sat back down, waiting for the trolley, until,

"It's about someone called 'Voldemort'," muttered Sirius.

"W-what?" I said, breathlessly. I wasn't expecting this Voldemort? Here already?

I gripped the seat I was on, waited until I stopped breathing like I had just run a mile, and looked around. No one had heard me.

"Stupid name," muttered Peter, looking up from his comic.

"Yeah…"mumbled Sirius. He was still reading. "He's one of them…" he continued.

"One of who?" asked Remus.

"They're called the 'Knights of Walpurgis'," said Sirius, with an air of disgust.

"Now_ that's_ a stupid name," said James.

Sirius glared at him. "Don't mess," he said, still glaring as Remus and Peter laughed. They stopped very quickly—Sirius had never encouraged anyone to stop laughing at anything. Everyone—except for me—stared at him. "They're not nice people; they go around torturing muggles and half-bloods," he started, sounding angry and sick of the subject. "They're just like my family: all jumped-up, thinking that they're better than everyone else just 'cause they're _pure-blood. _They've brainwashed my cousins and brother—you know what Bellatrix and Regulus are like. Everyone in my family except for Andromeda and I are like that. The idiots think they're _royalty_ just because they can trace their magical blood back to the middle ages without a squib, or anything. Like that really matters…" he looked angrily back at the paper. "This guy… Voldemort… he's become their leader. He's changed their name to the Death Eaters… reckons he'll be the next Grindlewald, or something… and they don't even know who he really is, his real name, yet."

"Sorry, Sirius," said James, as the food trolley came in.

"Thanks, mate" said Sirius, as Remus took the paper and began to read the article.

After that, we were all pretty quiet. The ride up to school seemed much too long. Sirius seemed to have upset himself explaining who the Death Eaters were, and what the pure-blood craziness was like in his family. We had always known that Sirius didn't like his family, and wasn't like them, but he'd never spoken at great length about them. In fact, I think that, at that point, that was the longest speech I'd ever heard out of him

I saved the paper, later. I took it when Remus had done, and kept it. The article was small- two paragraphs, and no pictures or quotes. Just a filler article on a page mostly taken up by an advertisement for Honeyduke's new store in Hogsmeade, and an article about dragon sightings in England by muggles. I wondered how such a huge thing- Voldemort, the most evil wizard ever, gaining control of the 'Knights of Walpurgis'—Death Eaters—his own private army, could have only earned the smallest possible space in the whole paper.

That night, I found Sirius in the common room with a long piece of parchment. "You can't be doing homework already," I said to Sirius. "We haven't even had any classes."

"No," said Sirius. "It's a letter from my mother. She's written to say that—that Bellatrix has joined the Death Eaters. Like that's a surprise."

"I'm sorry, Sirius," I muttered to him, sitting down on the couch where he was already.

"It's not your fault. I hope she's happy—they're just her type, there."

"No… I'm sorry that you got stuck with the family you did. You don't deserve it. You're not influenced by them, and they all believe in something that you don't. They're all Slytherins, and you're a Gryffindor—which is much better than being a Slytherin anyway."

"Thanks, but I'm still stuck with them," he said, smiling. "The only people in my family who have any sense are Andromeda, but she's in seventh year, and my uncle Alphard, but he lives in Wales somewhere. He went there to get away from all the other Blacks, I'm sure. No doubt Andromeda will follow him. She's bound to marry Ted Tonks, I'm sure, he's been her boyfriend for three years now. He's a muggle-born, so her parents will _love_ that. They already love that my best friends are muggle-borns and blood traitors, like James."

"That doesn't matter, Sirius." It was James. He had come down from the boy's dormitory, and was sitting down on Sirius's other side. "You're not like that, and it doesn't matter if your family is, or what anyone else's family is like. Plus," he continued, smiling, "Andromeda with Ted would really annoy them. I can't wait for that."

"Knowing them," said Sirius darkly, "they'll blame it on me. Send me a Howler, or something…"

"That'll be great," I said, thinking about it.

James laughed, and Sirius hit him in the head with a pillow. James kept laughing, and hit Sirius back.

"Very funny," said Sirius, also laughing now. "My parents won't think it will be great."

"It'll be a long way off, don't worry," said James, hitting him again.

"You might not live with them, by then," I said, grabbing my own pillow from a neighboring chair.

Sirius snorted. "Like my parents would give me enough money to buy my own place to live. I don't think they'd want me out of their sight, or out of my cousin's sights. Narcissa is still here, she's in sixth year, but she's not as evil as Bellatrix is, I don't know if she'd go off and become a Death Eater."

We spoke for another short while, and then, I proceeded up to the girls dormitory, where, of course, Lily, the prefect-in-waiting, was sitting, I swear, waiting for me to come up. "Reilly," she said to me.

"Evans," I muttered to her. Hestia Jones and Emmeline Vance glared at me also.

They continued to glare at me as I started to unpack my trunk. "Did I do something?" I asked them as they continued to stare. Hestia and Emmeline frowned and turned away, but Lily continued to stare.

"No…" she muttered.

"Well, then?" I said, glaring back at her.

"That Sirius Black's family is in league with this guy," she said, showing me the same article I had been reading a few hours ago.

"So?"

"Well, his family—"

"—is absolutely nothing like him. Except for Andromeda Black in Ravenclaw, that is. And, you don't know anything about him. He'd never join this guy, and, did you not notice, but he's in Gryffindor, when all the other members of his family who joined this were in Slytherin."

"But—"

"'Night, Lily," I said, turning away from her and continuing to get ready for bed.

The next day, James had an announcement for us. We were eating breakfast in the Great Hall, reading the newly passed out schedules when James came down, holding a piece of parchment. "'Morning, James," said Sirius, passing him the sausages.

"What took you so long?" asked Peter, taking his third fried egg.

"Look what I found," he said, as if he had discovered treasure in the Common Room. He passed the showed us the parchment which said:

Quiddich Tryouts!

Any one who is second year or above may try out for the Gryffindor Quiddich team. Tryouts are on Saturday, September 6. Available positions are  
-One Beater  
-One Chaser  
-Seeker

APPLICANTS DO NOT NEED THEIR OWN BROOMS

"So you're going to try out?" asked Remus, the last to read what was written on the parchment.

"Yep," said James, looking proud of himself.

"What are you going to try out for?" asked Sirius, as much a Quiddich lover as James.

"Chaser or Seeker, probably. I don't much fancy Beating," said James, taking the parchment from Remus. "What about any of you? Trying out?"

"I don't trust myself on a broom," said Peter. "I like both feet firmly on the ground, thank you very much."

"Same for me," I said.

"I'm not much of a Quiddich player," muttered Remus. "Well, I've never played."

"I might," Sirius added. "But I'm not very good; I prefer to watch."

James and Sirius continued to talk about Quiddich well into our Charms, our first class. Professor Vernes was making us take notes on charms from last year, while Sirius and James had a hushed Quiddich conversation. Eventually, I elbowed James, who was next to me, in the rib and whispered, "You do know he's going to hear you, right?"

"Relax," whispered James back, "he won't hear us." He turned back to talk with Sirius when,

"Mr. Potter," said Professor Vernes, "and Mr. Black. Why am I not surprised that you are the ones disrupting my class."

The Slytherins on the other side of class sniggered.

"Five points from Gryffindor," he said, turning away, and tapping the board with his wand, changing the text written there.

After class, as we were walking out, a mob of third year Slytherins "Hey Black," said one of them, "we hear your cousin has moved on to bigger and better things."

Sirius stopped dead. We stopped next to him and waited. It had been Snape who spoke.

"Yeah, Black," said another one, next to Snape. "Bellatrix has the right idea, on the Death Eater's side."

Sirius turned around.

Snape spoke up again: "So, Black, are you going to go the same way as your cousin, or hang around with Blood-Traitors like Potter and Pettigrew, and Mudbloods like Reilly and Lupin?"

James started to say something, but Sirius stopped him. "I am not going to follow Bellatrix," said he in barely more than a whisper.

"Stay with your precious little Mudbloods, then," said Snape, at the front of the pack of Slytherins. "You'll be the first to go."

Sirius had taken enough. He launched himself at Snape before we had the chance to try and hold him back.

"BLACK!" we all turned. Sirius stopped hitting Snape, and we saw that Snape had hit him back at least once, as Sirius's lip was bleeding. Professor Vernes was standing in the door of the Charms classroom, looking angrier than we had ever seen him. "Detention, Black," he said, walking toward Sirius.

"But Professor—" started James, but Vernes cut him off.

"One word, Potter, and you will have detention too." He looked around. "What are you all waiting for? Get to your next class! Severus, go to the Hospital Wing, I'll give you a note."

We went off, Sirius still bleeding and fuming. "I'll get Snivellus someday, I swear," he muttered as we walked to Transfiguration. "I promise I will."


End file.
